48 pages • 1 hour read
Anne McCaffreyDragonflight
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 1968A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
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BetaPart 2, Sections 8-9Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 2: “Dragonflight”
Part 2, Section 8 Summary: “Seas boil and mountains move […]”
Two years have passed since the events of Part 1.
Part 2 opens with Lessa in a tutoring session with two dragonriders: R’gul and S’lel. R’gul is Weyrleader because his bronze dragon, Hath, had mated with Jora’s queen dragon Nemora before she died, giving him top status until Lessa’s Ramoth is ready to mate. Lessa thinks that R’gul follows tradition blindly; she cannot understand why F’lar does not move more quickly to replace R’gul, as time seems of the essence. She is also frustrated at R’gul and S’lel’s insistence that dragon queens cannot fly except when mating, but she hides her annoyance behind a veneer of sweetness. She considers how the warnings of a Teaching Ballad she is learning might line up with current events in Pern to imply the Red Star (and Threads) may soon return.
After her tutoring session, Lessa meets with Manora, who is F’nor’s mother and the domestic manager (“headwoman”) at Benden Weyr. As Weyrwoman, this is part of Lessa’s duties. Manora tells her that the Weyr’s reserves, particularly of grains, are low, as only some of Pern’s Holds are tithing properly. R’gul wants to barter for goods, which offends Lessa—the Weyr should be given their due freely as the protectors of Pern. Manora encourages Lessa to consider partnering with a dragonman (perhaps her own son) and emphasizes that Lessa needs to stay with Ramoth at this critical time in her development.
Ramoth wakes from her nap eager to bathe and eat; she is growing rapidly. Lessa and F’lar take Ramoth to the lake to swim and eat from the deer herd the Weyr maintains as dragon food. A messenger named Tilarek arrives with news from Lytol, who now rules Ruatha Hold as regent for Fax and Gemma’s infant son Jaxom. Lytol warns that there is growing resentment among the Lords—especially Lord Meron of Nabol—against the Weyr. He also shares that while the crops are unusually plentiful in Pern this year, there are strange weather events.
F’lar, F’nor, Lessa, R'gul, and other dragonriders discuss how Ruatha alone is properly tithing. Lessa sneakily suggests the Weyr barter for food instead, which predictably spurs some of the prouder dragonriders (especially the young K’net) to demand raids. If the Lords will not freely give what is due to the Weyr for protection, the Weyr should take it by force. R’gul strongly opposes raids; F’lar stays silent. He quietly punishes Lessa when she tries to psychically manipulate them as she had F’lar and Fax at the Ruatha feast, much to Lessa’s frustration.
Part 2, Section 9 Summary: “Honor those the dragons heed […]”
Spurred on by Lessa’s interference, K’net and other dragonriders begin uncontrolled raiding of the Holds, further enraging the Lords against the Weyr. F’nor chastises Lessa’s impatience. He, F’lar, and a few other competent riders had planned to raid quietly to make sure the Weyr was stocked, but K’net’s brazen actions have created the potential for serious conflict. F’lar too, F’nor tells her, wants to depose R’gul, but with characteristic patience, he is waiting for Ramoth’s first mating flight in the hopes that Mnementh will mate with her, making F’lar the Weyrleader. It is especially important to have a proactive Weyrleader now; this Interval (i.e. time since the last pass of the Red Star) has been especially long, meaning that the upcoming Thread attack will be especially deadly. Lessa is “undone by the knowledge that she had miscalculated” (118)—she realizes she has been acting like the emotionally-driven, tyrannical Fax, and not as a good ruler should.
There is a sudden ruckus in the Weyr: The male dragons are only “blooding” their kills, not eating them. This signifies Ramoth will be ready to mate soon, but crucially, F’lar is away. R’gul intends for his dragon, Hath, to mate with Ramoth in his absence, but after Lessa psychically recalls Mnementh, F’lar returns in the nick of time: “There was nothing passive or indifferent about him now […] F’lar was done with waiting!” (120). Lessa is tasked with ensuring that Ramoth only drinks the blood of her kills; otherwise she will be too engorged to fly. On the mating flight, Mnementh beats Hath to Ramoth, and Lessa and F’lar, psychically connected to the dragons, make passionate love too.
Part 2, Sections 8-9 Analysis
This first half of Part 2 shows that Lessa has already undergone substantial character development. When we first met her, she was callously killing Fax’s Wardens. Next, she was thoughtlessly cruel to Lady Gemma, though there she also showed the beginnings of a conscience; she regretted her actions, even if she put aside her guilt quickly. In contrast to these earlier episodes, Lessa’s major mistake in Part 2—spurring the hotheaded K’net to raid the Holds prematurely—gives her serious pause. She realizes the real consequences of her tendency to rush into action and even compares herself to Fax: “[S]he was about to bring the Weyr to its ruin through the same arrogance” (118). However, while Lessa is becoming more self-reflective, she still must learn patience.
Despite Lessa’s frustration with her boring lessons, she and the reader are learning important information about the Weyr, both officially (in Lessa’s tutoring) and unofficially (from the headwoman Manora). Most importantly, Lessa is learning to approach tradition with nuance. While R’gul and his associates often appeal to tradition to maintain the status quo—citing an archaic rule that Weyrwomen are not allowed to fly their queens, for example—Lessa notices that some ballads contradict these claims. The Ballad of Moreta, for example, describes a triumphant Weyrwoman riding into battle. This teaches Lessa an important lesson: The current status of women on Pern has not always been the status of women on Pern.
While Lessa’s journey brings her closer to temperance and self-control, F’lar must learn to push past his wariness and act. Long ago his father F’nor had planned for F’lar to succeed him as Weyrleader, but F’nor’s unexpected death and R’gul’s ascendance stalled the plan. This break in the expected line of succession mirrors Fax’s usurpation of Lessa’s birthright. Consequently (and also like Lessa), F’lar’s life has been dominated by waiting: waiting for Fax to slip up, waiting for Ramoth to be ready to mate, etc. Part 2 sees that dam finally break: “F’lar was done with waiting!” (120).
Fittingly, this section culminates with F’lar and Lessa, two opposing forces, finally meeting in the middle. When their dragons mate, they make love as well, apparently overwhelmed by their psychic connection to their dragons. McCaffrey has foreshadowed this event to some degree since the pair’s earliest interactions. Nevertheless, all is not well or entirely resolved between them. As we will soon learn, their union was not entirely consensual, and F’lar and Lessa’s personality differences will continue to cause friction in their relationship.
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